Some people spend their life looking for problems but Roman is always seeking an answer. I know he talks at length with the manager about the team and the club and how we can improve and progress. When he comes to me and asks my opinion I feel a slight pressure because I know he will have discussed things with Mourinho first.

There have been conversations between us when he has asked how I think a particular player is performing. My reply was to say that he could improve a certain part of his technique at which point Roman’s answer was very simple: ‘So why don’t you tell him?’

I was slightly taken aback by his directness and explained that I had done so during games but it hadn’t had much effect. Roman came back again: ‘Well you have to make him understand.’

He was right. I did need to take responsibility and at that moment I realized that one of his greatest qualities is that clinical ability to identify a problem and then a simple solution. He knew there was no point in him telling players how they should play (though of course they would listen) but that as vice-captain and one of the senior pros, I could.

I thought about it and knew then what he was really about. I saw the ruthless side of him – not quite nasty but I knew here is a man who will not take any shit or excuses. He wants to win. It amuses and annoys me when people attribute Chelsea’s success to money. It’s true that Roman has spent a lot on players but those who throw around accusations that Chelsea ‘bought the title’ are ignorant of the way the club and the people there work to achieve success.

True, Roman is very rich. However, he is also a very intelligent and clever manager of people and assets. He has proven that in his field of business and now he is proving it on the football field. Only those behind the scenes who work closely with him – the manager and the players – really know the secret of our success and if pressed to give a single answer I would put spirit ahead of everything else.

There is a sense of community at Chelsea which has Roman at its head followed by the manager, his staff and the players. We are all working for each other and towards the same goals. Anyone who doesn’t subscribe to the common purpose is not welcome. Those who disagree with its methods don’t last.

During the course of defending the title in 2005/06 there were a couple of periods when we weren’t as good as we should have been. We had to have a look at ourselves and ask what was going wrong. We reminded each other of the strength we gained from everyone pulling in the same direction during the previous campaign. There were a few team meetings. Questions were asked. Are we as strong as we think we are? Why are we not competing in the same way?

Everyone needs that reminder now and again. When you go fifteen points clear of the pack so early in the season people can get carried away with themselves. It can happen easily. We needed to remind ourselves of our core values and what made us champions in the first place.

The manager asked us if we believed our standards had dropped below the level we had reached a few months previously. He asked if we thought that was acceptable. He asked if we thought Roman Abramovich would find that acceptable. He demanded that we put it right. We did.

To be fair to the manager, he more than anyone at the club had tried to guard against any complacency creeping in as we prepared for a second season in his charge. He wasted no time in preparing us for the challenge which was ahead. Nor did he try to soften the prospect of how difficult it would be to retain the championship. He called a team meeting on the first day of training and sat us down in front of a projector screen. A picture appeared of us celebrating with the Premiership trophy from the previous May. We resisted the temptation to cheer. We knew there would be a serious point.

‘Last year, we were champions,’ he said, but before we had time to acknowledge him he had flicked the screen on to a list of qualities which he explained we would need to possess to win a second title. He spoke of raising our own personal standards to reach another level; of being able to cope with the added incentive every team would have to beat us because of our status; of needing to guard against overconfidence and remain ambitious. The list went on – as did he – explaining each part in detail. The message was loud and clear. It would not be easy to win another championship and it would be an impossible ambition if any of us thought it was just a matter of showing up.

Mourinho was slightly more aloof than he had been the year before when he first joined the club. He came in then and built a relationship with the players quickly and easily. Now, as he spoke to us about the coming season there was a certain distance in his manner, likewise around the canteen and training ground. I asked John and Eidur if they had noticed anything. We wondered if he was all right, if there was something brewing under the surface waiting to blow up – trouble. I thought I’d learned to read his moods quite well after a year but there are times when the manager withdraws into himself and can seem introvert – unusual for a man who is normally so gregarious.

This atmosphere prevailed for five weeks – the whole of pre-season – until I realized what was going on. He had intentionally behaved more coolly towards us to keep us on our toes, to make us feel less comfortable and so make sure we never fell into a comfort zone. I could see his point. Had we come back having won the title and relaxed into the same old routine then perhaps – even subconsciously – some players might have felt that success would be just a matter of more of the same.

I’ve got to hand it to him – it worked. I found myself speculating that he wasn’t happy with me as did everyone else. It made me want to do everything absolutely right – run faster, train harder. Like Roman, Mourinho has a steeliness about his character which he’ll show whenever he thinks it’s required.

He has other means of keeping us sharp as well, including strengthening the squad with players who will challenge for your place in the team. People probably thought that I was irreplaceable when the 2005/06 season started after what we had achieved in the previous campaign. I probably thought I was. Then I heard Stevie Gerrard was joining the club and my first reaction was to be really pleased. Stevie is one of the best midfielders in the world: he’s dynamic, inspirational, and has the ability to score goals for fun – just what we need. Hang on. Just like me. The thing is, I reacted positively to that prospect and I hope I always will. Thankfully, I could be pretty certain in this case that the manager was pursuing Stevie to play him alongside me. I had heard the rumours build up to the point where I was sure he was going to sign for Chelsea that summer.

It was a very exciting prospect. A midfield of Stevie, Maka and me would be hard to equal in England and Europe. I think Stevie thought he was joining because he put in a transfer request at Liverpool and you don’t take that action without first putting a lot of thought into it. In the end he made a decision to stay at Anfield which I respect. I would have loved to have him play at Chelsea but I think he has basically committed himself to Liverpool for the rest of his career now. A lot was made of the situation in the press, saying it was a rejection, but I don’t think too many players had turned down the chance to join the Chelsea revolution before that.

I realized that if there were to be midfielders coming in then departures must also be on the cards. That much was obvious from the fact that we had to have subs in practice games at training because there were so many outfield players. The excess of playing staff was quite uncomfortable and some midfielders even found themselves doing shooting practice on another pitch while the rest played a game because there was no room for them on the field.

In the end, Jiri Jarosik, Alexei Smertin and Tiago all left the club while Michael Essien and Shaun Wright-Phillips signed along with Asier Del Horno. Nevertheless, there was still an overload and it keeps you looking over your shoulder no matter who you are. It’s just the way of Chelsea. It’s also the way of Mourinho. I know him well enough now and I think he would admit that he loves a fight. He’s a winner and he thrives on competition and there is no way he would be content to go through life coasting and being no better than mediocre. That mentality is passed on to the players whether it’s having rivals for your position or taking pot shots at our rivals elsewhere.

Before the season started he called a team meeting where he had Arsenal’s fixture list on a screen. He pointed out that after each of their Champions League games they were playing at home in the Premiership while we frequently seemed to be travelling to a difficult away game at the likes of Newcastle or Liverpool. His anger with that situation became a public debate when he famously referred to Arsenal as ‘angels’ while we were ‘devils’. It caused a big row in the papers and people were taking the piss asking why he was moaning about something as mundane as the fixture list. Especially when it’s all done randomly. Isn’t it?

I think he had every right to make his point because we’re a team and we don’t want to be disrespected or have our season made harder by fixtures if others are getting an easier ride. Why should we just keep quiet and accept things like that? We knew that it would be harder the second season and here was an example before a ball had even been kicked. The fact that he made his point in a press conference which turned into a controversy made the players take notice. Our manager stood up and attacked a scenario he thought was unfair. He did it for us and for Chelsea even though he was potentially holding himself up to attack and ridicule.

At a team meeting he made the point that the fixtures were another example of what we were up against in our battle to defend the title. It made us more determined than ever to make sure we won it again. He is a shrewd and clever man and there are times when he will take that kind of action in a calculated way because he knows the kind of reaction it will provoke. It’s not always the case that he’s trying to manipulate a situation. It’s simply in his personality to confront aggression and injustice head on.

I was there in Barcelona in 2005 when it all kicked off after our Champions League match in the Nou Camp and I know that a lot of the time he was fighting a just cause, yet he was portrayed as the villain and criticized for his actions and comments. Maybe his attitude is unconventional – he is very strong in his conviction and that might shock people but a man should not be condemned for holding to his principles. He was standing up for the players and for the club. I appreciate the unswerving loyalty he has shown to me, likewise the other players. He has the complete loyalty and commitment of the dressing room because he has earned it.

That’s not to say that he shies away from criticizing us when it is justified and the opening match of the 2005/06 season is an example of when he did just that in order to get the right reaction. We had gone to newly promoted Wigan Athletic for the first test in our title defence but the end result didn’t reflect the match. Crespo scored in time added on to take three points and afterwards the manager told the media that we didn’t deserve to win. In fact, we barely deserved a draw. I didn’t feel sharp enough and we looked sluggish all over the pitch. For all the talk beforehand about making sure we would be champions again, this game taught us a lesson about what the season would be like.

Wigan had been incredible and only a wonder goal had got us out of jail. Mourinho didn’t mince his words in the dressing room afterwards though he didn’t single out anyone in particular. He paid respect to Paul Jewell and his team for the way they had performed but made it clear that if we played as badly a week later against Arsenal then the season would turn into a long goodbye to the title rather than a glorious defence.

The boss was desperate to win but the rivalry with Arsenal took on a more personal twist because of the growing animosity between him and Arsene Wenger. I was aware of it, though mostly through what I read in the papers. Both managers were quite open in their hostility, which I put down to good old fashioned banter more than anything else. Of course people take things and run with them and they can get way out of control, yet when I look at Mourinho and Wenger I see very similar qualities.

They are both talented, highly motivated, and very passionate individuals. They both want to win and they’re not scared to admit it so when things got a bit out of hand between them I wasn’t overly surprised. The rivalry between the two clubs has always been fierce so given Mourinho is no shrinking violet it was probably only a matter of time before there would be fireworks.

Wenger had a habit of constantly referring to Chelsea’s spending in the transfer market which I suppose stemmed from his frustration at being poor by comparison. Both Essien and Wright-Phillips were strongly linked with moves to Arsenal before we jumped in and bought them for a combined fee of £45 million. Relations had never been great – the Ashley Cole saga didn’t help – and they reached an all-time low during that season when the two seemed to be trading blows like a couple of old-fashioned prize-fighters.

I don’t have a problem with it. I think it’s great that two managers can come out and have that kind of battle – it makes life and the game more interesting for all of us. There has been a calming down since and if they still harbour some ill feelings towards one another it’s no more than any ordinary work environment is capable of throwing up. It’s not possible for everyone to be friends especially when they are competing for the same trophies.

On the pitch, we felt there was unfinished business with Arsenal. We were champions and they came second but there had been a lot of crowing from their side about ‘being the better team’. Bollocks. The best team wins the league and I didn’t see Arsenal parading any silverware. Unfortunately we hadn’t beaten them in the Premiership the season before so when we faced them at the Bridge in the second match the following August we had more points than three to prove.

It was a very tight game and in the end a lucky goal from Didi sealed it but it didn’t mean any less to us. We were desperate to win, just as we had been in the Manchester United game the year before, because it was a statement of how determined we were to retain the title. Publicly Mourinho had declared that the championship would not rest on the result of a match so early in the season but in the dressing room he urged us to win and show Arsenal that we meant business.

From that successful if not so impressive start we began a sequence of games which had a bizarre result in terms of exacerbating the image of Chelsea as the most hated club in England. We beat West Brom 4-0 at home in a game which I will remember for the fact that Luna was born the previous Monday. I spent the night before the game sleeping on a squeaky camp bed in the hospital where Elen and our baby daughter were staying. I was a bit knackered from lack of sleep but the elation of seeing Luna safely into the world meant there was no shortage of adrenalin. I kissed my little girl before heading off to the Bridge and promised to celebrate her birth with a goal. The lads were brilliant with me when I turned up and John dragged me aside to say that if I scored we had to do the ‘cradled baby’ celebration made famous by Bebeto at the 1994 World Cup finals. As it turned out I got one for Luna and another for her Mum.

We recorded another three Premiership wins to make it six on the bounce without conceding a goal but our ability to take points and give nothing away seemed to provoke resentment rather than respect. ‘How dare Chelsea continue to be the best team in the country?’ appeared to be the attitude adopted by some sections of the media.

I went into training the week before the home match with Aston Villa and the lads were chatting about the fact that a reward of £10,000 had been offered by the Sun for the first player to score a goal against us. F***ing hell. I couldn’t believe it. They wanted us to lose so much they were prepared to pay people to try and beat us. At first I was angry because it felt unjust for anyone other than your own club to offer incentive bonuses for specific matches. They got round that rule though and made it ‘sweeter’ by making the offer payable to a charity of the winning player’s choice. As it turned out Luke Moore did get a goal against us that weekend and so the spell was broken. It did affect our concentration though.

We had enjoyed such a good start to the campaign that we began to relax too much at the beginning of games and it seemed to take losing a goal before we really started to play. We had three home games on the spin in which we went 1-0 down. The manager called a few meetings about it because it got to the stage where though we were winning games 4-2 or 5-1 we weren’t happy. Neither was he because we were waiting for something to happen in games before we kicked in. Those periods can be dangerous. Bad habits like that are not easy to pull back from. While there was no need to panic we did understand there was a problem. When we drew our match at Everton the talk was of staying unbeaten through the season; within a month a defeat at Manchester United dismissed that notion.

We lost by a single goal but the match was one which we had dominated and were very unlucky not to gain something from. I traipsed from the pitch very upset. Only a few months earlier I’d captained the team at Old Trafford as champions and we had been given a guard of honour by the United players as we took the pitch. Mourinho, however, salvaged the mood in the camp with his after-match analysis. ‘You deserved to get victory or at least a draw from the game,’ he said in the dressing room. ‘Do not be downhearted for you fought like champions and if we continue in this way then no one will stop us from keeping our title.’

We needed that rallying cry. Everywhere we looked Chelsea were being caned and along with being accused of being unfairly rich and cheating, some people were saying that we were boring to watch as well. I was beginning to wonder if I was back at West Ham!

The ‘boring’ tag had started with Sir Alex Ferguson towards the end of the previous season and then resurfaced because we were twelve points clear. Boring for some maybe but not for us. Ferguson claimed we were too direct which was strange given that the OPTA stats for our season that year showed we had most goals, most shots on goal, most passes completed, and, critically, most points.

Some of the Liverpool boys then kicked off another round of banter baiting when they compared our style to the Wimbledon team of old. I found that one very amusing since Liverpool were the team who signed Peter Crouch, and if you do that you’re clearly going to play to his strengths.

It was yet another episode in the rivalry between the teams flaring up in the face of competition. We had demolished them 4-1 at Anfield earlier in the league and so when we met again in February there was a lot of tension bubbling under the surface – some of it leftovers from the previous season’s encounters.

We dominated the match and were two up and waiting for the whistle when a row erupted in the box between Arjen Robben and José Reina. Reina pushed Robbie in the face who then went down causing the usual spat of posturing between players. What ensued, however, was an unjust portrayal of Chelsea as the villains of the piece.

The first thing that should be considered is that Reina flattened Eidur at the corner flag. Then, when Robbie confronted him he lifted his hand. To me, those two actions taken together add up to a red card though players are often ordered off for lifting their hands alone. I know that I can’t push someone in the face because I will be sent off, no matter what the provocation – and I’ve heard some interesting things said.

If someone in our team is sent off and we lose the game because of it then I will pull that player up for it. For that reason it actually doesn’t matter if Robbie went down from Reina’s challenge or not – the moment he lifted his hand he risked being sent off. I don’t argue that Robben didn’t go down easily; I know I would never have gone down in the same manner in that situation. Players are different though. I have seen players do it in similar circumstances many times and I don’t agree with it. I didn’t feel angry with Robbie at the time and I defended him because he is my team-mate. Benitez chose to make an issue of it afterwards when he asked if Robben was in hospital. I would liked to have asked him if he had seen Reina nearly put Eidur in hospital seconds before with his wild lunge before he pushed Robbie in the face? If the Liverpool manager had said that his keeper also deserved to be sent off then fair enough – but he didn’t. Furthermore, the incident happened in the final minute of the match which they had already lost so it made no difference. Benitez purposefully made a huge deal out of it because he wanted to shift focus away from a comprehensive defeat – a case of a lot of smoke bellowing from not much fire.

What pissed me off most though was that for weeks on end Robbie was labelled a cheat and a diver. I know he went down too easily in that match and I also know that he’s not the strongest player in the world. If you touch him in training he can go down simply because he’s so quick. A lot of it has to do with upsetting his balance on the run. It’s a grey area in football and one that is difficult to judge correctly. If someone dives blatantly when there has been no contact then that is wrong. I don’t want to see that in football and neither does any right minded person. It’s even worse when it’s done to win a penalty.

The Liverpool incident with Robbie sparked a general campaign to kick diving out of football but it seemed to me that a lot of the negativity was directed at Chelsea. It didn’t help that Didier was frequently accused of diving during the season, capped by his comment on Match of the Day after a victory over Manchester City: ‘Sometimes I dive, sometimes I don’t.’ That remark, however, was taken completely out of context – the context being that he used the word ‘dive’ when he meant to say ‘go down’. He should also be given the benefit of the doubt in that he was speaking in a second language but more so because he was being honest about what happens in a match. What he was trying to explain is that when he is touched – with varying degrees of force – there are times when he will stay on his feet and others when he will fall. That is very different to admitting to being a diver, which is complete bollocks. Anyone in their right mind would never come out and say that on national TV and Didier is not stupid. But from that moment the question of diving spiralled into a massive issue which always seemed to have Chelsea at its centre.

I have seen and heard other managers accuse players from many clubs of diving when I know and have witnessed that some of their players have been guilty of exactly the same thing. So what? You forget those moments or you don’t want to mention that player? That’s not how it works. And then they jump on the bandwagon and have a go at Didi. It’s a joke.

I watch Spanish and Italian football and there is a culture there of going down if you have passed a player but believe you haven’t gained any advantage. People who have played abroad bring that culture with them and what is happening now is a reaction to the threat of this practice becoming more widespread.

Dad always told me to be careful when tackling in international football because if you get too close then an opponent will automatically go to ground. The truth is there is fault on both sides of that scenario. People argue that one player has gone down but on the other hand it’s lazy defending to simply stick out a leg and put yourself and your team in jeopardy. It’s harder to stay up and jockey than it is to just dive in.

I’ve been in games when one of our players has instigated a great piece of play to go past someone and is then caught but still manages to stay on his feet. I admit I have willed my team-mate to go down because I can see that he’s not going to benefit from stumbling on after he has been fouled. I have also said it to them after the event. Ask yourself if you’ve ever seen a similar situation involving your team. Did you think the same as me? I bet you did. We all have.

The fact is that it’s impossible to be objective about this if you are a player within a particular team for the simple reason that you have a vested interest in the outcome of an incident whether it be for or against you. We will all give partisan views based on allegiance and that’s why the referee is the only one who can interpret and decide the consequences of a particular action.

There is a fierce debate about what’s right and wrong in these scenarios and the conclusion I have come to is that anyone who dives where there has been no contact whatsoever is a cheat; I would say that of my own team-mate if one of them was guilty of doing so.

When contact has been made then the matter is not so cut and dried: each case has to be looked at on its own merits and in its own context before it can be adjudged to be against the law or spirit of the game. I will stand by my team-mates in situations like that because one of the greatest strengths we have is unity. I have to do that and my instinct is always to protect my team-mates – especially when it gets to the stage it did during the 2005/06 season where Didi was victimized by the media and some officials.

The ‘diving’ debate should also not be allowed to detract from other arguably more significant events in that season, notably the death of two Chelsea stalwarts. Peter Osgood and Tony Banks were highly regarded at the club for different reasons and I always found them to be generous with their time and very nice people. Ozzy was an absolute legend at Chelsea and for those of us who have tried to bring back the glory days to Stamford Bridge he will always be an inspiration. Tony Banks was a devoted fan who always had time for me and my family and who lived and breathed Chelsea. Like Ozzy, he will not be forgotten.

We moved to the Christmas period and went to Arsenal on 18 December for a match which had less significance in terms of the title race than it might once have had because they struggled through the first half of the season. It didn’t make it any less satisfying to win well and we felt more comfortable than ever with our position. It wasn’t until we turned up at Manchester City ten days later that something went very wrong.

I had surpassed the previous record for consecutive Premiership appearances at Portsmouth a month earlier. As the game drew nearer I had become more nervous that I might not make it. I had come that far and felt very proud that I had achieved something unique. The manager was also very supportive and put aside any thoughts of resting me because he wanted me to get the record. Never once did he ask me if I wanted to stop – he simply helped me through. After I played my 160th game, at Fratton Park, I immediately wanted to go on and make 200 or more. It’s just the way I am. Then fate stepped in.

During the day of the match at Manchester City I had a viral flu and felt quite ill. When we got to the stadium I told the doctor who gave me a vitamin injection to try and quell the fever. Mourinho asked me if I was okay and I thought I was but after five minutes of the warm-up I knew I couldn’t play. I sat in the stand while the game went on without me feeling physically sick with the virus and just as sick at missing the match and losing out on stretching the run a bit further. Understandably, people were coming up to me and asking me why I wasn’t playing but I knew that there was no chance I could have. I would love to think I might get close to it again and I doubt an outfield player will break my record though I have a suspicion that a goalkeeper probably will.

I had a lot to feel proud of at that time apart from breaking the record. Having been recognized in England for my performances I was then voted runner-up in the European and World Player of the Year awards for 2005. I was pleased that my contribution as a player and goals in domestic and international football had pushed me on to a new level.

Ronaldinho beat me to first award in the Ballon D’or and he deserved the title. I went to Zurich for the World Player ceremony which I consider to be the ultimate accolade as it is voted for by the national coaches and captains of every country of FIFA. When the shortlist of Samuel Eto’o, Roni and me was announced a month earlier, I was content just to be considered alongside two such great players.

I arrived at the Opera House for the pre-ceremony press conference having heard a rumour that I was once again runner-up to Roni. I wouldn’t have argued with that especially when I saw that the entire board of directors of Barcelona had turned up to support their men. No one from Chelsea had bothered to make the trip.

The official announcement was duly made and I was thrilled to be on the same podium as a player whom I regard to be the best on the planet and potentially the greatest who ever lived. Team awards are the ones which are most valuable but an award like that means a lot because it’s one you can’t bluff.

People can win the Golden Boot for being top scorer in a single season and then never be heard of again. Likewise, some players can win an award for an exceptional year and then slip into mediocrity. To be named in the top three in the world, though, you have first to get on people’s radar by putting in the work and performances and after that move to a different level altogether to actually be nominated.

I have taken a real shine to Roni since we first met for the simple reason that is he is such a down to earth person. I was (and am) in awe of him and wasn’t sure what to expect in person but he’s so enthusiastic and friendly that you couldn’t fail to like him. Previously Zidane was the player I idolized and saw as the ultimate footballer but Roni has taken that a step further again.

My all-time favourite player is Diego Maradona but Roni is still young and I wouldn’t be surprised if he surpassed even the great El Diego by the time his career is over. At Barcelona he has single-handedly galvanized the team in the time he’s been there and has been responsible, more than any other individual, for turning that great club around.

One of the reasons for that is his attitude. Football is as natural an expression for him as speaking is for the rest of us – maybe that’s why he always plays with a smile on his face. I faced him two years in succession in the Champions League and he was devastating. People say of the best players – Thierry Henry is another – that when they are on their game there is nothing you can do to stop them. Roni is different again. He is goalscorer and creator; he’s explosive and can deceive you with a trick from his boot or just a look in his eye. You’re scared to tackle him because you know he can make one move and flick past you, leaving you for dead.

More important than any of this though is that so many times he plays the killer simple ball. Rooney is the same. He has all the skills and thrills to do whatever he wants with a ball but if there’s a pass to be made which will get a goal then he plays it. Roni is no circus act. He’s not there to please the crowd. He wants to win football matches and you cannot teach that; just like his God-given talent, it is pure instinct. I love watching him play and he has become the symbol of Barcelona in the time he has played there. Like the rest of Europe, I was eagerly awaiting the opportunity to play against Roni again when Chelsea were up against Barca in the first knockout phase of the Champions League.

We didn’t go into the first leg on the best run of form. Losing 3-0 at Middlesbrough was the worst defeat to date in the Mourinho era, the only one where we deserved to get beaten because none of us played well. On other occasions we lost yet the manager has said we were the better team and at times I have agreed with him. Boro’, however, was a hold your hands up job. We started badly and it got worse. I’d sensed the danger earlier in the season when we started to concede goals and then we shipped three in one match. Not the best preparation for facing, Roni, Eto’o and a certain Lionel Messi.

In addition, Barca returned to the Bridge having learned from the season before when we had ripped them apart in the opening twenty-six minutes. They were more compact in midfield and clever holding the ball. They created a couple of half chances before Asier Del Horno was sent off and once again controversy descended on the contest.

I immediately agreed with the referee’s decision after Del’s challenge on Messi, knowing how any physical tackle is viewed by a European official. When I looked at it on TV afterwards I thought it was more likely a yellow card. It certainly wasn’t a good challenge – mistimed, resulting in Del falling into the Barca player – but maybe if the ref had taken a bit more time to decide it would have been different.

I felt like I had been in this movie before. Didi the season before and now Del. Barca are the last team in the world you want to play with ten men. We managed to get to half-time without conceding and in the second half with Eidur and I running the midfield, we were doing quite well. I whipped in a free-kick and John’s presence was enough to cause chaos and the ball was flicked into the net.

Within minutes though I saw why if you get the chance to kill Barca off you must grab the dagger with both hands. Didi was through on goal but his shot was saved. Then from the corner they ran up the pitch and Eto’o scored an equalizer. That’s how quick they were: able to retaliate when you least expect it.

It had been a tough call for our manager. With ten men he may have been tempted to shut up shop and play for a goalless draw but Barca have so much talent that such a result is unlikely. I think he called it right and it was a lack of concentration on our part which cost us. Roni and Messi were on fire, blazing shots from all angles and threatening to blow us away.

They did just that with the second goal which once again was a sucker punch, delivered just when we thought we were getting a bit stronger. Going into the second leg 2-1 down was painful enough to contemplate but it was aggravated when I tore a small muscle in my hamstring while training with England. I missed the match against Uruguay and then that against West Brom in which Mourinho had the balls to stand up to Bryan Robson when the two had a row on the touchline. People said the pressure was showing. Oh really?

I trained in Barca on the Monday before the game and we were told that we would start with three wide men – Coley and Duff on the flanks while Robbie would play through the centre behind Didi. Mourinho’s plan was to field three speedy attackers in the hope of over-running the defence with me and Maka behind them. Unfortunately our attack minded players didn’t manage to do what the coach wanted of them partly because Barca read the match and did everything to stifle them.

Roni scored his customary goal and with a couple of minutes left I scored from a penalty but it was too little too late. We lost the tie in the first leg at home when we were down to ten men. A big deal was made of the fact that we didn’t start in the Nou Camp with two strikers but I wasn’t surprised by the selection. We couldn’t afford to get exposed and go further behind and so the manager put out a team capable of attack and defence. Elimination was hard to take though not as bad as the previous two years when we had fallen at the semi-final stage to teams we felt we should have beaten. I felt Chelsea and Barca were the two teams in the competition capable of going all the way and so it proved to be.

After the game Roni came over to me and we swapped shirts and embraced. It was a mark of respect and friendship, then he smiled at me in this particular way and joked that one day he hoped we would be on the pitch together playing for the same team. There had been a lot of rumours about interest from Barca in signing me, and Roni had always been very generous about me in interviews. The Barca directors had also been very friendly towards me at the World Player of the Year event the previous December and I appreciated their courtesy.

Barca was the European team I was most interested in as a child in the days of Maradona, Romario and Ronaldo. I have always been intrigued by the stadium and when I got older I grew to love the city itself – now even more so since I have known Elen and we have visited her family there. People have tried to suggest that Elen’s roots may be a reason for me wanting to leave Chelsea but the truth is that she has never tried to influence me in choosing one club over another, and is happy living wherever my career takes me.

Barca exude the majesty and glamour befitting one of the world’s great clubs, and to have your name mentioned as a possible recruit is an honour in itself. If I ever did have an ambition to play abroad then Barca would be one of the clubs I would want to play for. I looked at Roni after he made his quip and thought about what he meant. We laughed and I wished him luck for the tournament. He didn’t need it.

Even though we had lost, there was a part of me that realized how lucky I was to have the chance to pit myself against one of the greatest players in football. I have been fortunate in my experience so far to be able to include most of the best in the game among my opponents or colleagues and if Roni is the best attacking player there is then John Terry is certainly the best defender.

We are very lucky in England to have JT and Rio Ferdinand who are unmatched in the game. JT is unique in modern football for the way he is able to block any player by reading the game intuitively or through sheer physical force. He leads by example so no one can ever accuse him of asking them to do something JT hasn’t done himself. He inspires as a captain and you know that you can rely on him 100 per cent every time you are on the pitch with him.

When you work so closely with someone it’s a big advantage to be on the same page with regards to your approach to work. I didn’t know him very well until I signed for Chelsea but almost immediately there was a synergy between us. We had grown up playing in the same league in east London and there is a mental fortitude about John which I know is one of my own strengths. We also share the hunger to win, a determination to succeed, and the motivation to play whenever possible.

Strangely enough, I got to know him a lot better through adversity rather than triumph. He went through a very difficult time after an incident outside the Wellington Club involving him, Jody, and a nightclub bouncer in September 2002. I turned up for training one Friday morning and neither of the lads were there – later that day we discovered that they had spent the night in a police cell. At that point football became irrelevant as I was very worried for both of them. We had an FA Cup tie at Norwich on the Saturday to which John travelled by car rather than in the team coach. He was on the bench and so was I. Spending the night in custody had clearly had a bad effect on him. The situation was made worse because he hadn’t done anything wrong – as the court later confirmed. The whole situation became a long and drawn out process prior to the trial being heard, while all the time John became more and more concerned.

John and Jody are both very strong characters but Jody seemed better able to handle the pressure at that time. John by contrast became very emotional towards the end of the whole saga. I could understand why: he was just beginning to emerge as the one of the best footballers in England and though he was innocent of the charges laid against him it didn’t mean he wasn’t scared of what might happen should the situation get out of control.

We spoke about what was likely to happen and I tried to keep his attitude positive and his spirits up. I was concerned for him but I could barely imagine what he was putting himself through. He did come through it though, as a stronger person and was even identified as a suitable candidate for captain of the club.

When Mourinho arrived he assessed the character of John and myself and decided we were the perfect combination to lead the team and represent the club. We have grown as individuals since being awarded that responsibility but we have also become closer as friends. We even think alike when it comes to certain matters around the club. For example, I might notice something which I’m unhappy about only for John to raise it with me and ask my opinion. To a certain extent this is instinctive but it also reflects a shared desire to get things as close to perfect as possible.

We retain the same inner desire to continually improve ourselves. At 14 no one was touting John as the future best defender in England, never mind the world. Instead he was looked on as a stubby midfielder who couldn’t run very well, yet he has taken his talent and made himself into the player he is. I can relate to this and appreciate what he has achieved in his life. Consequently when we see a young player who has ability but fails to apply himself, or just can’t be bothered trying, we will get the hump with him in the same way.

We pick up on the same things and we want the club to keep moving forward which means making sure we take everyone else in the same direction. At training we work very hard and push on all the time even though as senior players people might think we have earned the right to take it easy now and then. We won’t. It’s not in my nature nor is it in his. We know how important it is to keep raising the bar at Chelsea. JT can lose at five-a-side and will be upset with himself all day. I’m the same. It might be a pissy little five-aside which doesn’t matter but it means a lot to John and I. The smallest details like that are important in building a winning mentality.

That’s why I feel so comfortable around him both on and off the pitch. There’s no one in the world I’d rather have in my defence than John. And he gets you about ten goals a season as well! Show me another defender who has a comparable scoring record. For me, John is the best central defender in the world and I’m proud to call him my team-mate and friend.

But it’s not just me who feels that way. He plays a very important role as well in the way he brings all of the lads together and makes sure that the exceptional team spirit we have is maintained. He has all of the players’ numbers in his phone and is the chief organizer of team days out to go-karting or golf. He set up one particular outing to Cheltenham races for the squad which was great fun except there was a dire shortage of winners among us and for the ridiculous newspaper stories about losing money which followed our trip. Gambling among footballers was already a hot topic of discussion in the media. Newspapers seemed to be particularly hysterical about it, which is odd given that betting is as much a part of British culture as football or fish and chips and has been a popular pastime across society. However, because of the ongoing obsession with the amount of money footballers earn it was suddenly deemed obscene that any of us should have a flutter. That denies the basic principle that gambling is relative to the amount of money you earn. The maths are quite simple: footballers are fortunate enough to earn more money than most professions and so can afford to bet more. Problems arise when people bet more than they can afford and suddenly find themselves in financial difficulty.

When I gamble – and I don’t bet frequently – it is never very much and I always have a limit which I adhere to very strictly. If I reach that limit then I get very pissed off and stop automatically. I work hard to earn my salary and I prefer to think of myself as more cautious with money. Though I never gamble very much, I have been cited in some press stories as having lost x amount which is nonsense. I always bet well within my limit and much less than I could stake if I wanted to.

There are also those who claim that there is a massive betting culture in football that is addictive and out of control. I realize that gambling can be addictive but that kind of environment doesn’t exist in my experience. As long as people do it responsibly then it’s not causing any harm and shouldn’t be the subject of scandal.

As a high-profile player you understand that everything you do will be scrutinized and analysed by the media but as far as gambling is concerned there’s no wrong doing – it’s not like taking drugs or drink driving. It only helps fan the flames when ex-pros like Tony Cascarino claim that a certain player has staked £200,000 on a football match – it’s wrong that he makes that kind of accusation off the back of gossip. I know it’s untrue and it also gives a very wrong impression of what people are actually betting. Of course, it only makes a story if the sums quoted are scandalous. It happened the day we went to Cheltenham and a tabloid ran a front page story the following day claiming that we had lost £500,000 between us in a single afternoon. Normally I would laugh but in this case it’s not funny – it’s completely untrue, not to mention pathetic. I can categorically deny that the amount staked was anywhere near that figure. It would have been difficult to approach the alleged sum given that some of the Portuguese lads were making outrageous bets of a whole tenner a time on one race!

Betting was simply the latest football issue for the papers. A couple of years previously it had been sex, then drink, and now gambling was focus of their moral crusade against football. If you took away those three things from the lives of most people they wouldn’t have much enjoyment left so why should I or anyone else be persecuted simply because we are professional footballers? Such questions seemed fair enough to ask in return (though we never get the chance) but there were other more pressing concerns which needed to be attended to on the pitch.

We had gone through a patch in the season when our form, our ability and our reputation as champions was being questioned but it wasn’t just the players who were under scrutiny.

The Fulham game in March 2006 was an example of the manager doing what he thought was right for the team. We were a goal down and not playing well so he decided to take off Wright-Phillips and Coley after around twenty-five minutes. After we lost the match, his decision was closely scutinized, with some people claiming that Mourinho had been impetuous. This is ignoring the fact that had we won then it would have been ‘an inspired move’. It doesn’t actually matter what other people think. If Jose Mourinho thinks the team is better off with different players on the pitch then I’m not going to argue with him. Why would I after what he has achieved in his two years at Chelsea? It was just another example of his ability to make a decision and act on his own conviction. I agree that it was a bad game for us to lose but I don’t blame the manager for what was a poor performance by the players.

None the less, our lead was being cut down and Manchester United had had a game in hand on us for quite some time. There were drastic predictions of our demise, collapse, and general surrender. We reacted in the right way though. We drew at Birmingham three weeks later but apart from that we didn’t drop any more points until the championship was won. I guess those who were looking at fixtures like West Ham, Bolton, and Everton and predicting a very sticky run-in for us were a bit disappointed.

We approached the home game against my former club in the knowledge that failure to win would allow Manchester United to get even closer. We were seven points ahead but we went a goal down to West Ham after eleven minutes, closely followed by the turning point of our entire season. I thought Maniche was a bit unlucky to be sent off for making contact with Lionel Scaloni in a 50/50 but there was no point in arguing. At that point I could almost hear the cheers of Man United supporters around the country as well as others who thought they saw the wheels falling off our title bid. Worse than any of that, though, was the sound of the away fans at the other end of the stadium dancing with joy as we tried to re-organize. I was waiting for the taunts and wasn’t disappointed: ‘Lampard, Lampard what’s the score?’ Yes, yes. I know. F***. Of all the teams in all the world to be caught up in this scenario with. F*** it. We’ll just have to beat them with ten men.

I looked at the manager who signalled Crespo would drop deep and draw his marker while Didi would continue up front on his own. No need to change personnel. No panic. I liked that. It sent out the right signal. We were going to win. Within minutes Didi put us level from my pass and then Crespo and JT netted before half-time to put us in a winning position. Get in there. Willie Gallas scored a fourth and I could hardly believe it.

I’m not sure if any team has ever won a match in the emphatic manner we did with only ten men. It was an amazing effort and mentally we knew then we had won the league. At the end we stayed on the pitch and celebrated with our fans. They knew how important that win had been and so did we. There were a few stray West Ham supporters left in the ground as I walked to the tunnel giving me some abuse. I smiled sweetly in their direction and held up a fist. Have some of that.

We went to Bolton the following week and I scored, before winning by three against Everton at home on Easter Monday. I netted my twentieth goal of the season against David Moyes’ side which is a landmark total for a midfielder. People say that ten from midfield is a great return but having got nineteen the previous season as well, I would like to think that I’ve pushed my standards to another level.

Amusingly, Peter Kenyon had come up to me at the party in the Stamford Bridge gym the summer before, when we were celebrating the league title, and remarked on my feat.

‘Congratulations on being top scorer,’ he said. ‘I bet you won’t be next season.’

‘I don’t want to be,’ I replied.

As it turned out I was top scorer, though I never did nail down what he bet me. I was especially pleased since there were spells in the season when I was playing alongside Maka while Eidur was ahead and so my options to run forward were limited. Scoring sixteen in the Premiership also meant that I beat the record for a midfielder held by Robert Pires and Paul Scholes who got fourteen.

The increase was in part due to changing my technique in hitting the ball. I used to strike it much more true, which is fine if you can direct the ball into the tightest corner of the goal at power. The modern football is lighter though, and if you hit across it you can make it move around in flight which makes it much harder for a keeper to save. Even big Petr in our team ends up palming a shot that is coming straight at him into the net if you catch it right and it suddenly changes direction.

With victory over Everton nothing could stop us on our course to another league win. We knew for a few weeks that the FA Cup was our only other chance of silverware and the opportunity of making history by becoming the first Chelsea side to win the ‘Double’ was an alluring one. Only one problem: we had to play Liverpool, again, and it was a semi-final.

I would be lying if I said that there wasn’t an eerie sense of déjà vu about the whole scenario. Apart from the fact that this would be the tenth meeting between our two sides in two seasons, the pain of the Champions League defeat had not completely healed when we ran out at Old Trafford for another duel.

The situation was also strangely familiar in that we were well ahead in the league while their only chance of silverware was this last cup competition. I don’t believe in fate as a rule but I began to wonder if something wasn’t conspiring against us; a thought which occurred again after they took the lead.

Garcia then struck from range after the break before all of the pressure we had exerted finally paid off and Didi pulled a goal back with twenty minutes left. It seemed to be the longest twenty minutes of the entire season. Time and time again we pressed forward and wave after wave of attack ended in nothing. There is no more desperate feeling in football than chasing a lead in the dying minutes of a semi-final, more so the FA Cup which means an awful lot to me as an Englishman.

When the fourth official signalled five minutes added on, my mood lifted and I wondered if the omens had perhaps turned in our favour. We were getting closer and closer to an equalizer when Coley was put clear only seven yards out. I watched and was sure he would score. He must. He didn’t. As the ball floated over the bar and into the crowd I knew our hopes of the Double went with it.

It wasn’t Coley’s fault. We had other chances – enough to win the game twice – but didn’t take them. There was a sinking feeling, a sense of disappointment that the challenge of the season now boiled down to one game. But what a game. The stage was set for the title party when the invited guests were Manchester United. It could hardly have been more dramatic except for the fact that we were already comfortably ahead in the table.

There was still an air of great expectation around the game though. To most players and fans of my generation Manchester United are the team who have exerted the greatest influence on the English game; from the distinctive style of play to the incredible haul of trophies, they have proven themselves to be the dominant force in football in this country. To me they represent the yardstick by which all others must expect to be measured and having won one championship perhaps Chelsea came up to their knees – or maybe just the shins. The fact remained that no team other than United had successfully defended the Premiership title. I remembered sitting with Gary Neville in the England dressing room back at the beginning of the season and thinking about the fact that he has six league winner’s medals – incredible. I wanted that. I also wanted Chelsea to be that good, that ruthless, and that successful.

The crowd sensed the significance of winning the championship against the most decorated club of the past twenty years and so did the players. We started with a real spark, going one up within minutes, that spread like a house fire as we scored two more to ensure there could be no doubt about who were the champions of England.

Coley scored a great goal which was well deserved, given the way he has made himself into an invaluable player under Mourinho – a status reflected in his importance to Chelsea and England. Joe is someone I have known for a very long time. I was a youth team player at West Ham when we were told to go out to the training pitch and watch a young boy play because he was so good. We were told he was the best prospect to come to the club in years and so with that build up we rushed him out. He was good all right: tricky on the ball, fast off it, and with an ability to beat players for fun. It was Joe Cole and he was ten years old. I felt a bit uneasy about the pressure he must have been under though; so much expectation surrounding someone so young.

That pressure only got worse as time went by. It was very unfair. Even Rooney hadn’t had such a same burden because he exploded on to the scene at sixteen whereas Coley faced that build-up from the age of just eleven. Everyone could see he was exceptionally talented but the gap between talent and living up to other people’s expectations can be very big indeed. When he came into the first team at seventeen he was tagged the ‘new Maradona’ and inevitably Joe started putting pressure on himself to add to the substantial pressure that already existed.

After I left West Ham he became a regular in the first team and was given the captaincy by Glenn Roeder, which I think was a mistake – not because Joe wasn’t capable but because he already had enough to cope with. Why make him captain when that only added to the unrealistic expectations of the crowd? It was the season they were relegated and inevitably the captain takes a lot of the flack in that situation. Joe didn’t need any more strain. Coley is passionate and can be quite volatile, and I know he took the captaincy on wanting nothing more than to save the club from going down. But the fact is that he was already the team’s best player and so adding more stress to his load was not a good idea. It all got too much for him at Bolton in the relegation season and he was sent off.

When he came to Chelsea, Joe faced pressure of a different kind. In his first game he was desperate to show people what he could do and ended up very frustrated after having just a few minutes on the pitch. That was very much the story of his first season at the club. Since then Mourinho has treated him very differently. He has taken Joe aside and worked with him – honed his skill to help transform into a player who recognizes the importance of playing in particular patterns as well as being tactically disciplined. In short, he has converted an individual talent into a team asset. People think the manager has treated Coley harshly because he has spent time on the bench and on occasion been criticized by him despite scoring some important goals. I don’t agree. Mourinho has done what was needed to make him a Chelsea player.

While the manager has been the guiding hand most of the credit for the transformation has to go to Joe himself. He would never have achieved what he has if he hadn’t had the desire and the self-belief to make it. He has also found a new balance thanks to no longer heaping pressure on himself; now he knows he can impress people by releasing the ball at the right moment rather than beating a man for a second time. Things like that have made a huge difference to his game. He has developed and flourished as part of the team but it’s wrong to accuse Mourinho of being too rigid and of discouraging flair players. The point is that there is a right time for that kind of thing and I don’t think he is any different in his attitude than any other great coach.

The philosophy is simple enough. I get frustrated when a player does a trick and passes the ball a few seconds later than he might have. People will stand in awe of the skill and it’s nice to watch but the most valuable players in football are those who are effective, who know when to do the right thing at the right time. There’s no need for a step-over when there’s a simple pass on.

The very best in the world know the difference. Ronaldinho is one of them – he doesn’t waste time indulging himself when there are goals to be scored. There is an argument that skilful players should be given a free role in a team. This is a total fallacy. It’s impossible to be a major influence in a team capable of winning the Champions League and play without responsibility. Maybe that worked fifteen years ago but modern football is a lot more demanding of every player on the field.

Every other week ex-players suggest that Joe needs to be ‘set free’ and I think ‘Oh, I wonder why you aren’t a manager? Maybe it’s because you haven’t got a clue.’ Some claim that Joe needs to be given freedom to play as an old-fashioned wide player, but that shows a basic misreading of what’s needed from a team to win the league.

Every player now has to have defensive duties and tactical awareness no matter how skilful they are, and you will only find someone who thinks he can get away with doing little of either in a middle-ranking team going nowhere fast. It takes dedication and practice to reach the very top level, and when I stay behind to work on my shooting or free-kicks Joe often joins me.

Few people have worked as hard on their finishing as he has and he is reaping the reward of that with the goals he’s scoring. The fact that he was able to do it in the game which clinched the league was very fitting. I ran to celebrate with Joe and the rest of the lads when his shot hit the net and we were sure we had won our second title.

Unlike the season before, when it was impossible to predict my emotions after winning it, I had been in a way preparing myself for this moment for a while. I didn’t enjoy it any less but the two experiences were a great contrast. The outpouring of joy which accompanied the win over United was for a season of extremely hard work and for the fact that we had proved good enough to retain the title. The difference a year earlier was that then we had experienced a communal release from fifty years of waiting, from half a century of frustration and anxiety. It was a feeling so special that I wonder if I will ever re-live it in my career.

After the United game, Elen and Luna joined me on the pitch along with some of the other lads’ kids and partners. It felt amazing to hold my little girl and show her my medal. When we were presented with the Premiership trophy in 2005 Elen had been pregnant and I had said to her that we could look forward to sharing this moment with our new baby. I was very happy to be able to deliver another flag day. I have spent most of my life trying to make Mum and Dad proud but I realized that the person I most want to win trophies for now was huddled in my arms. And that’s what keeps me going, keeps me fighting and wanting to get better.

I would like to think that deep down people do appreciate what we have done. The memories – and in some cases the scars – are still fresh and perhaps it will take a little more time for what Chelsea have achieved so far to sink in. We have taken the league by storm and because everyone outside of our club has allegiance elsewhere there is a degree of envy which Manchester United suffered from for years.

I hope that we have earned people’s respect, though. However, many choose to focus on the money we have spent in an effort to take the shine off the trophies we have won. It’s true that our transfer budget has been bigger than anyone else’s over a short space of time but I doubt it’s much more in relative terms than what Blackburn spent when they won the title or what Manchester United have spent over the last fifteen years. This issue annoys me because it’s aimed at detracting from what our outstanding success. However, in some ways it motivates us to show people that it’s not about the money. Yes, I enjoy being one of the best paid footballers in the world but I didn’t get to where I am by luck. Everything I have I worked very hard for, and probably the most influential lesson Dad ever drilled into me was that you make your own luck.

I have grafted to get to where I am. I would love to say that I just woke up one day and found I could do anything with a football but that isn’t the case. In a more general sense, the accusation that we have bought success also ignores the characters in the team, never mind their quality and the excellence of performance which has been achieved at the same time. For instance, John, Eidur, Carlo (Cudicini), Willie (Gallas), and I were all at Chelsea before the Abramovich revolution.

There’s a lack of depth to the way people think of us at the moment. They prefer to skim what’s on top and pick faults rather than see the true substance of what has made the club the best in the country. For that reason I believe that this Chelsea team will be better remembered in the future than we are appreciated right now.

If we didn’t win another title and faded out then maybe this crop of players would receive some credit but if we dominate English football for ten years then the club will be regarded much more highly and we will not just be a winning team but the start of a dynasty at Stamford Bridge. Liverpool attained that status in the Seventies and Eighties and then Man United in the Nineties and maybe that’s what people will say. Football is too emotional and our success is too fresh at the moment to be given much acknowledgement. People said that the great Liverpool team of the Seventies were boring and the Leeds team of the same era were a bunch of thugs but now there is a great nostalgia for both sides after years have passed and perspective been applied.

Longevity – to be part of a legend – is what I am fighting for as an individual and what everyone at Chelsea craves as a team. I don’t think we can expect that level of respect after just two titles, and if I were to fade after just three or four good seasons as a player then I would be bitterly disappointed that I hadn’t fulfilled my potential or destiny. All you can claim in two seasons is limelight not legend. Only a team which dominates for a sustained period of time can genuinely expect more. I believe that we have people at Chelsea who share that same ambition.

I know that Roman is determined to make the club bigger, better, and more successful. In the summer of 2006 he sanctioned a deal which brought Germany captain Michael Ballack to the club from Bayern Munich, a move which heralded a change in the recruitment policy of Mourinho. The emphasis before had generally been to sign excellent players who had yet to achieve significant success and who were hungry to do so. Four weeks later, the man widely regarded as the world’s best striker, Andriy Shevchenko, also signed for a club record fee. Both players are at the very peak of their career and have a wealth of experience in club and international football. It’s a development which some people questioned I would welcome given Ballack’s position and ability to score goals from midfield. Those who did so don’t know me at all.

I relish the opportunity to play with great players and to have them challenge me to up my game to a new level. With Ballack and Shevchenko, everyone at Chelsea has been served notice that the club is intent on achieving greater things. No one gets it easy at Chelsea, though, and I’m sure the manager has made the new lads aware of what is expected of them under his charge and working for Mr Abramovich. Already I can sense the sweep of change at Chelsea which is aimed at evolving the club, at pushing forward.

Any club which has achieved a measure of success cannot trade on its past but must plan for the future. At Chelsea we have the ability to develop and improve, utilizing all of the assets we already have at our disposal plus the ones we are able to acquire to help make that happen. I know Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho. I know John Terry and myself, and none of us are people who are content to sit back and admire what has been done. We need to move forward and make progress; win more titles and push ourselves and Chelsea to new limits.

If there is anyone who doubts that ambition then they don’t know Chelsea. I have lived through one revolution at the club and prospered and I intend to be at the forefront of the next stage. It’s like I have said: since I was a child I have tried to reach heights that seemed above me. Nothing has changed.